The Association of Residential Lettings Agents is urging member agents and the industry to ensure it is up to date with how Right To Rent is likely to work on November 1 – that’s assuming the UK leaves the European Union the day before.

In a lengthy post on its website, ARLA says agents need to know what compliance with Right to Rent checks on European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss nationals will look like post-Brexit.

ARLA’s descriptions are clear but highlight the extraordinarily complex landscape that letting agents and landlords will have to cope with, within a matter of seven weeks.

Firstly it says that for EU nationals, EEA or Swiss citizens living in the UK now, the advice is to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme initiated by the government some months ago. 

Secondly for EU nationals planning to move to the UK after Brexit, there is a European Temporary Leave to Remain (known as Euro TLR) – this is contingency plan for immigration in the event of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement. 

Euro TLR is a temporary UK immigration status that will allow EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who move to the UK after Brexit to continue living, working and studying in the UK for up to 36 months after December 31 2020 – so almost four and a half years from now.

A chief exception to this applies to Irish citizens who under a separate status – the Common Travel Area Arrangements – will not need to apply to stay in the UK after December 31 2020.

Finally there are the cases of international students – only this week the government declared that international students will be allowed to stay in the UK for two years after graduation to find a job.

This reverses a decision made in 2012 by then-Home Secretary Theresa May that forced overseas students to leave four months after finishing a degree.

ARLA says the latest government guidance is that its new policy will come into effect next year – leaving agents and landlords in some uncertainty until then.

The association’s website rather humorously suggests agents ‘keep calm and carry on’ but the overall picture for the industry appears immensely confusing.

You can see the full ARLA guidance with links to helpful websites here.